Staff Profile – Ollie
10 October 2025
Get to know Ollie - our marketing manager
Ollie has worked at the shop for over 10 years now and is our go to for YA, romance and LGBT fiction. Their three picks for desert island reads are; Calypso by David Sedaris, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir and Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.

I first read Calypso by David Sedaris just after I finished my A levels in the summer of 2018. It was the first biography that I ever read, and to this day it is my favourite. The humour that Sedaris brings to the page is fantastic, and hugely relatable. As a grouped series of essays this was not a book that I expected to enjoy as much as I did, but I remember so vividly cackling in the airport, almost certainly making people think that I may be slightly insane.

A newer entry to my favourite books of all time Project Hail Mary is one of my most reread books of the past five years. Following Ryland Grace as we try to figure out how to save the world, and why he’s on this mission in the first place. Following the Martian (another of my favourite sci-fi novels), I was really hoping that Project Hail Mary would live up to the hype and it did and exceeded it massively. Weir’s trademark sarcasm, combined with a fantastic plot makes this a fantastically readable novel. I will also take this moment to plug the audiobook for this by Ray Porter, which is one of the best narrated audiobooks that I have listened to.

My final pick is my most read book of all time, and one of my most recommended in the shop. The Percy Jackson series is my favourite children’s series of all time, and the first instalment kicks off the series with a bang. Fantastically funny and pacey, I most recently read the whole series last year, and they hold up so well. A true comfort read for me, this is what I turn to when I am in a bit of a reading slump or feeling a bit down.










